Alkoxysalicylic acid such as 4-methoxysalicylic acid is a prior art cosmetic ingredient as a whitening agent. Patent Document 1 discloses an external preparation that contains alkoxysalicylic acid as a whitening agent and it describes a lotion that combines 3-methoxysalicylic acid and a water soluble polysaccharide (sodium hyaluronate) (0042-0045). However, there is no investigation into suppression of the stickiness and friction due to 3-methoxysalicylic acid by adding a water soluble polysaccharide.
Patent Document 2 discloses a non-woven impregnated cosmetic containing a whitening agent and mentyl lactate, and it specifically discloses 4-methoxysalicylic acid as the whitening agent (0019). However, in this non-woven impregnated cosmetic, the problem of the stickiness and friction due to 4-methoxysalicylic acid is not necessarily solved sufficiently.
Patent Document 3 discloses that the stickiness and the friction are suppressed by adding a small amount of an oil component (0.01-3 wt %) to a liquid cosmetic comprising an alkoxysalicylic acid derivative. However, an oil component is required to suppress the stickiness and the friction and the amount to be added is limited, therefore the suppression of the stickiness and the friction is not sufficient and the texture upon use is also limited.
Patent Document 4 discloses an example (0020, Example 5) of an external preparation comprising 4-methoxysalicylic acid and alkyl-modified carboxyvinyl polymer. However, this Example does not sufficiently solve the problem of the stickiness and the friction arising from 4-methoxysalicylic acid.
As described thus far, a cosmetic comprising both 4-methoxysalicylic acid or a salt thereof and a water soluble polysaccharide is a conventional technology, but a sheet-like cosmetic that uses said cosmetic as the impregnating liquid of non-woven fabric has not been directly described.
Also, in the conventional technology, investigations have been conducted on the stickiness and the friction arising when a cosmetic comprising 4-methoxysalicylic acid or a salt thereof is directly applied on the skin and the cosmetic dries on the skin, but there has been no investigation on using a water soluble polysaccharide to reduce this stickiness and friction when a sheet-like cosmetic produced by impregnating a non-woven fabric with said cosmetic is applied on the skin.